Cerebral Palsy Cerebral Palsy is a group of permanent physical disorders that affect movement. It is not an illness or a disease and it can affect people differently. If someone has this disability it means that part of their brain is not working properly or has not developed. This happens either before they are born, around the time of birth, or during early childhood. Cerebral Palsy can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking.
There are several different types of cerebral palsy, including spastic, dyskinetic, ataxic, hypotonic, and mixed. The affected area of the brain is usually one of the parts which control the muscles and certain body movements. CausesSome babies are deprived of oxygen during labor and delivery (birth). Because of this, doctors used to think that asphyxia (oxygen deprivation) during birth was the cause of the brain damage. However, scientists discovered during the 1980s that less than one tenth of cerebral palsy cases were caused by oxygen deprivation during birth. Most cases of damage to the brain among cerebral palsy children occurred before they were born - more specifically, during the first six months of pregnancy.
Symptoms
Symptoms of cerebral palsy can be very different between people with this group of disorders. Symptoms may:
Be very mild or very severe
Only involve one side of the body or both sides
Be more pronounced in either arms or legs, or involve both arms and legs
Symptoms of spastic cerebral palsy, the most common type, include:
Muscles that are very tight and do not stretch. They may tighten up even more over time.
Abnormal walk (gait): arms tucked in toward the sides, knees crossed or touching, legs make "scissors" movements, walk on the toes
Joints are tight and do not open up all the way (called joint contracture)
Muscle weakness or loss of movement in a group of muscles (paralysis)
Abnormal movements (twisting, jerking, or writhing) of the hands, feet, arms, or legs while awake, which gets worse during periods of stress
The symptoms may affect one arm or leg, one side of the body, both legs, or both arms and legs
The following symptoms may occur in other types of cerebral palsy:
Cerebral Palsy
Cerebral Palsy is a group of permanent physical disorders that affect movement. It is not an illness or a disease and it can affect people differently. If someone has this disability it means that part of their brain is not working properly or has not developed. This happens either before they are born, around the time of birth, or during early childhood.
Cerebral Palsy can involve brain and nervous system functions such as movement, learning, hearing, seeing, and thinking.
There are several different types of cerebral palsy, including spastic, dyskinetic, ataxic, hypotonic, and mixed. The affected area of the brain is usually one of the parts which control the muscles and certain body movements.
CausesSome babies are deprived of oxygen during labor and delivery (birth). Because of this, doctors used to think that asphyxia (oxygen deprivation) during birth was the cause of the brain damage. However, scientists discovered during the 1980s that less than one tenth of cerebral palsy cases were caused by oxygen deprivation during birth. Most cases of damage to the brain among cerebral palsy children occurred before they were born - more specifically, during the first six months of pregnancy.
Symptoms
Symptoms of cerebral palsy can be very different between people with this group of disorders. Symptoms may:
Be very mild or very severe- Only involve one side of the body or both sides
- Be more pronounced in either arms or legs, or involve both arms and legs
Symptoms of spastic cerebral palsy,the most common type, include:
The following symptoms may occur in other types of cerebral palsy:
Other brain and nervous system symptoms: